Beyond the unquestioned genius and vision of CEO Bill Gates, what accounts for Microsoftand#8217;s astounding success? Microsoft commands the high ground of the information superhighway by owning the operating systems and basic applications programs that run on the worldand#8217;s 170 million computers. Drawing on two years of unrestricted access to confidential documents and project data, eminent technology-scientists Cusumano and Selby reveal, for the first time, many of Microsoftand#8217;s innermost secrets. Forty in -depth interviews with employees enabled the authors to identify seven key strategies which demonstrate exactly how Microsoft competes and operates. They reveal a style of leadership, organization, competition and product development which is both consistent with the companyand#8217;s loosely structured and#8217;programmerand#8217; culture and remarkably effective for mass-market production of software. Managers in many different industries will discove hundreds of invaluable lessons in this superbly readable book.